Transactions

Transactions are the heart of the Point of Sale area of Masterpiece.

Transactions include Sales, Sales Returns, Approvals, and Leases.

A lease is used to lease art to a doctor's office or some place for a period of time. It is not a sale, but the gallery still receives money, therefore it is a type of Transaction.

Topics in this section also include:

Layaways and Installments

Editing an Existing Sale, Edit Client, Edit Payments

Quick Sales

Voids

Over Quantity Sales

Start the New Sale

There are three ways to start a new sale:

The transaction screen is divided into areas that represent its separate parts:

 

  1. Transaction Numbers:

By default, the next Transaction Number will be automatically generated by the system and will also allow you to override the number that is generated.

Note: You can use the Company Settings screen to tell Masterpiece to not generate a number, and to set the allowable ranges for the Transaction numbers. You can also use the same screen to prevent the number from being editable.

  1. Other Transaction Fields:

The grey Client field will stay blank until you enter the client information later in the Client tab. The grey Type field indicates whether this transaction is a Sale, Approval, Return or Lease.

By default, the system will enter the Current Date. It will also default to a Local Sale, for the primary gallery location, and will enter the operator name for whoever is logged in at the time. These fields can all be changed during the transaction.

Unless you wish to change the transaction number, use the TAB key or the mouse to move to the first field in the Item Entry Page. For a new sale, the system automatically adds a new title line, depending on your company settings.

  1. Item Entry (Detail Lines):

By default the system puts you in the Title column.

Note: You can use the Company Settings screen to tell Masterpiece to default to the Scancode field instead of the Title field. This is useful if you are using a hand-held bar code reader.

Look up the Title:

The Scan Code and Title columns use a Lookup field. As you begin typing the title of the piece, the system immediately tries to find a title that matches what you have entered. As soon as you see the title you want, simply press Enter or Tab to move to the next field.

Note: While in the lookup field, you can use the FIND screen to select a piece by double-clicking on the field, or by pressing CTRL-TAB on the keyboard.

Tip: If the piece you wish to sell is NOT already in your inventory, you have the option of using the Quick Sale feature, which is described in more detail below.

After you have selected the item to sell, press TAB to move off the Title or Scancode Field.

What happens next depends on the type of item you are selling.

  1. Unique: The system moves to the Quantity field, which should almost always be set to 1.

  2. Open and Limited Edition pieces:

If you are selling an Open or Limited edition piece, the system will open another window to allow you to select the particular item you want to sell. If the actual edition number is not in your system, you can use the Quick Sale feature from this screen to add a new item to this edition. This is not the same as the Quick Sale feature below, where you are actually adding a whole new title. The Quick Sale button on this form is discussed in the Over Quantity section below.

Now you're in the Quantity column.

You should only change the Quantity if you're working with an Open Edition; by definition there is only 1 of a Unique, and Masterpiece tracks Limiteds individually in the Transaction screen, so you can only have 1 per line. If you have selected an Open Edition and enter a number larger than the Quantity Available for the Lot that you've chosen, the remainder will become an Over Quantity item lot.

Enter the Price Now or Sales Discount:

At this time the form has auto-entered the Price Now and calculated the detail line total and the invoice totals. You can adjust the Price Now by either entering a Sales Discount or entering a new Price Now. Changing either of these fields will automatically change the other: I.E. if you have a Price Was of $100.00 and enter a 10% Sales Discount, the Price Now will change to $90.00. Then if you enter $85.00 into Price Now, the Sales Discount will change to 15%. Price Was is used as the basis for these calculations and cannot be changed from this screen.

When you change the Price Now the system recalculates the detail line Total and the Transaction totals.

Vendor Discount:

The Vendor Discount field is used for adjusting Consignment Due to the Vendor, in the case of a consigned item. Please note that you cannot enter a Vendor Discount that is greater than the Max Discount of the Vendor on the Contact form! Masterpiece will issue a warning notice and automatically reduce the Vendor Discount to the Max Discount if it's greater.

Add Title Line:

This button forces Masterpiece to add another (new) line to the item entry grid so that you can repeat the process above to add additional pieces to this transaction.

You can also press the ALT-A keys on the keyboard, or press the Down Arrow key on the keyboard, to add a line.

Delete Detail:

Use this button to remove a line from the Item Entry Grid.

Quick Sales

The Quick Sale feature was designed to allow you to enter an item for sale "on the fly" when your client is standing at the cash register and you have not yet entered the piece in the system. If the client is not present, it is generally better to add the item to inventory, and then come to the transaction screen to complete the sale.

When you use the Quick Sale feature, the system captures the bare minimum amount of information to create an item for sale. The idea is to process the sale as quickly as possible so that your client does not have to wait. It is up to you to return to the item, after the transaction has been completed, to "fill in the blanks."

For example, when using a quick sale, we do not capture any dimension, artist, vendor or cost details.

There are two types of Quick Sales:

  1. New Item Only - [Title already in system]

In the case of a Limited or Open edition, you may be selling another piece from the edition, even though it is not in your inventory at present.

Begin by entering the title or scancode as you would normally. When the Item Edition screen opens, use the Quick Sale button on that screen to initiate a quick add for this sale.

When you use this feature, Masterpiece will immediately create an Item, and a new lot A group of items, each having exactly the same attributes (costs, location, etc.). Masterpiece will use your Company Settings to create the piece.

The Company Settings Screen, Purchases Page has a setting for "Automatically Receive PO For Quick Sales." By default, this feature is turned ON. This means that when you use a quick sale, the system treats it as though you actually have the piece (it has been received) and it's just not in the system yet. In this case, the location of the piece you are selling will be set to "Delivered to Client" when you complete the transaction.

If you turn off the "Automatically Receive PO For Quick Sales" feature, the item is marked as "Reorder: Over Quantity." This means you will have to use the PO screen, when the piece arrives, to "receive" the piece.

  1. Brand New Title

If you are selling a brand new piece (by this we mean that you have never sold an item with this title before) the system will need to add several additional pieces of information before it can be sold.

While on a blank detail line, press the F3 key or click on the Quick Sale button. Masterpiece will immediately create empty Item, Title, and Purchase records. It will generate a ScanCode (without an Artist Code) and allow you to enter the remaining detail on the detail line.

The steps for entering the detail are the same as for a normal detail line with one exception: you must choose the Edition Type. The default Edition Type is Unique. The Ed Type column has a drop-down list with the edition types, and you can either type the first letter (U, L, O, or N) or drop down the list with the mouse and make a selection. If you select Limited, you will be required to enter the Ed Size and the Edition number for this piece.

NOTE: You will have to enter SOME edition number even if you don't know at the time which edition number will ultimately be supplied to the client. Once you receive the actual piece that will be shipped to the client, you will need to set the edition number for the piece to the actual number.

Over Quantity Sales

When selling an Open Edition piece, the system will allow you to sell more than the quantity on hand now. This is because we assume that with an open edition, you can always get more of the item.

So, when you choose an Item Lot A group of items, each having the exactly the same attributes (costs, location, etc.) via the items for Open Editions form, and then enter a Qty that is greater than the Quantity on hand for the Item Lot, you have an Over Quantity situation. The net result is that Masterpiece will create a new Lot for the Over Quantity amount, create an unreceived Purchase Order, and set the Lot's location to "Reorder: Over Quantity."

Enter Client Details

Although you can skip the client page completely, you will want to capture client details for most transactions.

Use the mouse, or press ALT-C to move to the client page.

Here we will enter the Client information, and the Shipping and Mailing phone and address information. You can either select an existing Client or enter a new Client from this page.

Selecting an Existing client:

The Look Up Client field is a Lookup field. If you look up (and find) an existing Client, the remaining fields will be filled in for you. Masterpiece chooses addresses and phone numbers as follows:

    1. Look for an address/phone with the type needed, either Shipping or Mailing and use that.

    2. If there isn't one for the type, looks for one marked as the "Main" address/phone and use that.

Please refer to the Contact screen documentation for help on setting Phone and Address types, and setting the "Main" Phone or Address.

When you find an existing client, you can change the Client information by typing over the information in the fields. Please be careful! When you change information for a contact, it is changed everywhere that client is used in the system. Transactions, Purchases, and Titles.

Entering a New Client:

To enter a brand new Client, leave the Look Up Client field blank (or delete what's in it) and tab off. The remaining fields will go blank, and you can enter the new client.

NOTE: As with any of the lookup fields, you can open the actual Contact Form by pressing CTRL-ENTER while you are in the Lookup fields. Once in the Contact form you can work with all aspects of the client record. However, at Point of Sale time you may find it faster to just type the information into the blank Client fields on the Transaction form.

Address and Phone information:

The Address 1 and Phone fields for both the Mailing and Shipping addresses are lookup fields. They work similarly to the Look Up Client field. You can either select existing Addresses or Phone numbers for the client you've selected, or you can enter brand new phone numbers or addresses.

To enter a new phone number or address, just type in the new phone number or address (Address 1). This signals Masterpiece that you are entering new information, just like the Look Up Client field. The new Phone or Address will be matched to the Client; I.E., when you look at the Contact record for the client, the new addresses/phone information will be filled in, and the Type will be set to Mailing or Shipping.

NOTE: There is no need to enter the same information in both the Mailing and Shipping areas. If the shipping address is the same as the mailing address, leave the shipping address blank. If you do enter a shipping address, you will be creating two separate address records for the client, with the same information.

Enter Payments

When you go to the Payments page Masterpiece creates a default Payment line in the grid for the balance due and sets the pay type to Cash.

The main rule of thumb is that the total of all the payment lines MUST account for the Total on the Sale before you can save the transaction!

Payment lines can include Layaway and Installment lines that have not been paid, so long as the total Amount Due matches the Sales Total. When a payment is made, the Amount Paid must match the Amount Due for all lines that are not Layaway or Installment.

Regular payments (Cash, Cheque, various credit cards, Gift, or the various Other):

Change the Pay Type to the desired type. This is a lookup field, so you only need to type in one or two letters, or double-click on the field.

If you need to add a new payment type "on the fly" you can press Ctrl-Enter on the keyboard. In general, it is better to set all of your possible payment types before doing a transaction.

If necessary, change the Date Due and the Date Paid. Please note that the Date Paid for regular payments defaults to the Transaction Date. Fill in the rest of the columns as needed for check or credit card transactions.

If you change the Amount Paid to an amount less than the Amount due, the Amount Due changes to match the Amount Paid. Thus, the total payments due, at that point in time, would not match the total sale. If you press Add Payment, Masterpiece will insert a new Cash payment line for the remaining amount, which you can then change to some other pay type if necessary.

Notes on Validations and Company Settings:

There are several company settings that you can use to set company preferences.

For example, if you enter Cheque or one of the Credit Cards and skip the Card/Check Num, Exp Date, Card Name, and Auth/DL columns, Masterpiece may prompt you for the information, depending on your Company Settings.

The Card Number can be blank, but if you enter a card number the system will attempt to validate it.

The Expiration date cannot be blank.

The following validations can be turned on or off via the Company Settings form, Transactions page:

Please note that the Card/Check Number and Auth/D.L. columns do double duty. If the pay type is a Credit Card, the data is the Card Number and the Authorization number, respectively; if the pay type is Cheque or Travelers the data is the Cheque Number and the client's Driver's License Number, respectively.

Layaways and Installments

Layaway and Installment payments are treated exactly the same way (accounting wise) within Masterpiece. The two pay types are provided so that you can distinguish between transactions where the client has accepted the art, and where they haven't.

If you make the pay type Layaway or Installment Masterpiece will present you with the Payment Calculator form. This form helps you calculate time payments.

When the form first opens the Amount to Defer will be the amount that was in the Amount Paid column. You can change this amount if you wish.

Choose the number of payments and the How Often value. When you choose the How Often value, the First Due Date changes to the Date Due plus the time period you are choosing. The First Due Date is a DateLookup field, so you can change this date if you wish.

After you have selected your settings, click on Calculate. The payments will be calculated and displayed in the grid. You can change the Date Due and the Amount Due on the grid if you wish.

When you are happy with the results, click on Done. If you click on Done without clicking on Calculate first, Masterpiece will run the calculations for you but you won't have a chance to review or edit them. You can click on Reset to start from scratch, or Cancel to cancel the calculations.

Masterpiece makes the final payment an odd amount if the Number of Pmts does not divide the Amount to defer evenly. Remember, you can always adjust the calculated payments in the grid.

If you have Calculated and/or pressed Done, then the Payment Calculator form will disappear, and Masterpiece will insert the payments lines into the Payments grid.

One special application of Installments would be a single payment in the future. To do this just make the Number of Payments 1, and make the Due Date the future date. This will create a single Installment payment.

Later on you can edit the Sale to add payments when the client brings in payments. See Edit an Existing Sale below.

See the Layaways / Receivables help topic for more information on printing the Layaway report.

See the Sales Reports help topic for more information on Layaway In/Out

Saving the Sale

When you save the sale, Masterpiece validates the information you entered. It will:

Other things that happen at save time:

The Paid In Full date is updated if all the monies have been received.

Masterpiece marks the Contact record for the Client to show that they are a Customer.

If you have sold items Over Quantity For Open Edition pieces, it is possible to sell more of an item than you have on hand. When you do this, masterpiece creates an Over Quantity record, indicating that you must obtain more of the item. a new Item Lot is created for the Over Quantity amount. The Item Quantity will be zero, and the Stock Location will be "Reorder: Over Quantity" or "Delivered to Client" depending on the Automatically Receive PO For Quick Sales setting (Company Settings, Purchases Page).

If you have created a Quick Sale item or the item is sold Over Quantity, then a Purchase Order is created for the item(s) involved. If the Automatically Receive PO for Quick Sales setting is checked in the Company Settings screen, the PO will be marked as received.

If you have sold part of an Item Lot, then a new Item Lot is created for the item(s) you have sold. Its quantity is now zero, its stock location is "Delivered to Client." This new lot is a Child Lot and Lot that the item was sold from becomes its Parent Lot.

If a new Lot is created, then any framing costs from the Parent Lot are transferred to the new Child Lot.

If a new Lot is created by an Over Quantity sale, a new line is added to the Transaction Item Entry detail grid for the new Lot.

Location Change records are added to track the movement of the piece:

If a new lot is created, the original Lot gets a Location Change record that shows the amount sold being moved to a "New Lot". The new Lot shows that same quantity being moved from a "New Lot" to the Parent Lot's stock location. Then another record is added to show the Item being moved from the stock Location to "Delivered to Client" or "Reorder: Over Quantity".

If a new lot is not created (as with a Unique piece, for example) a Location Change record is added that shows the item being moved from the Stock Location to "Delivered to Client" or "Reorder: Over Quantity".

If there is a Vendor Discount, and the item is on consignment, the discount is recorded in the Purchase Payments file. This is described more fully in the Consignments help screen.

The total quantity on hand for the Title is adjusted by the quantity sold.

For Limiteds, the Edition(s) sold are marked as sold in the Item Editions table. This affects the Items Form, Editions page.

If the Item sold is involved in the Web Site then the Title and Item information is set to be automatically updated during the next Web Update.

Edit an Existing Sale

To edit a sale, open up the Transaction form and Find or Navigate to the Sale you wish to edit.

Then click on the Edit button on the Toolbar, or press CTRL-E.

NOTE: YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THE TRANSACTION NUMBER, OR THE TRANSACTION TYPE ONCE THE TRANSACTION IS SAVED.

On the main form you can change the following:

Editing the Client Screen

When you first enter Edit Mode you cannot change the Client. We do this to keep accidents from happening.

The Address/Phone fields are always available for selecting existing or adding new Address/Phone information as described in Enter Client.

Please be aware that if you enter a new client, the Address/Phone information that is displayed is added to the new Client's record.

To change the client for this transaction, click on Change Client button.

This allows you to select an existing client as described above in Enter Client.

To enter a new Client, click on the New Client button

This will clear out the Client, Address and Phone fields and allow you to enter the new Client information.

Editing Payments

You can edit or delete any of the payments. This includes changing due dates, amount due, pay type, credit card information.

One of the main reasons for editing payments is to enter payments on Layaway or Installment. To do this, go to the line you wish to record payment in. Change the Pay Type to something other than Layaway or Installment.

Enter the Amount Paid, which can be the Amount Due or less than the Amount Due. You can also change the Date Paid. Fill in the credit card/check information as required by your Company Settings and business rules.

If you are entering an amount that is MORE than the amount due, you will need to delete payment lines and add a new one with the correct amount.

NOTE: The total amount due for all lines MUST match the total amount due for the transaction.

When you record an Amount Paid that is less than the Amount Due on Layaways or Installments, a new Payment record is created with the balance for that payment, keeping the Date Due from the original Payment record. This record appears at the bottom of the grid, and you may not see it if you have many payments. When you save the Sale, the payment records will be resorted by Date Due.

Voiding a Sale

Some States have mandated that companies have consecutive invoice numbers.  While the legal responsibility is on you, we have had a high number of people ask us to make it so that an invoice CAN NOT be deleted, and we agreed.  

Here is the proper way to delete a transaction:

You should see a new title in masterpiece which is named “Cancel Transaction” - if you do not, add a new title in Masterpiece as a non-stock item with the title “Cancel Transaction.”

1. Edit the transaction to delete existing items, and then delete them

 

2. Add a new item called "cancel Transaction" to the transaction for 0 dollars

 

3. Delete payment

 

4. Delete any existing payments and add a new payment called "Cancel."

 

5. In the notes section, enter a reason for the cancellation

 

Sales Returns

Enter a Sales Return when your client returns an item.

Choose File-New Return from the menu.

New Return

When doing a Sales Return Masterpiece takes the items on the Sale being returned and ignores all the items whose quantity is zero, or whose stock location shows that it is not either currently sold (Delivered to Customer) or on approval. If it cannot find any items after checking these criteria, then you will get that message.

You can verify both attributes of the Item - Qty and Stock Location - by pulling the Item form up for the Item. The easiest way to do this is to find the Transaction that you are attempting to return, then double-clicking on the PriceWas for the item in question. The Item form should pop up, pointing to that Item

The first step in returning a piece is to locate the original transaction. Masterpiece will use the information from the transaction to determine the prices, client, and payments.

Masterpiece presents you with the Find Transaction form, so that you can choose the Transaction that you wish to return. Select the appropriate transaction.

Masterpiece then opens the Transaction Form in Add Mode and sets the Transaction Type to Return. The read-only fields on the form will be brick red: this color indicates Sales Returns on the Transaction Form and in the Find Transaction Form.

Returns Form

After the return form opens, you can change the Date, Tax Type, Transaction Location and Staff.

Item Entry

The form will display the items from the original transaction.

The most important thing to do here is to enter the Qty Ret'd.

Note that this value defaults to 0! As you enter the Qty Ret'd notice that the Totals field values change. Note that dollar amounts on a return are negative, but the Qty Ret'd is positive. Also note that the only column you can edit in the Item Entry is Qty Ret'd as it doesn't make sense to change the Title or the Price Now (selling price) of the Item. You cannot enter a Qty Ret'd that is greater than the Quantity Sold.

Please be aware that Masterpiece does not check to see if the Item has been returned already! It is your responsibility NOT to return an Item twice.

Clients

The Client information defaults to the original Client. You can leave this Client, select an existing client, or click on New Client as described above. You can also leave, select, or create new Address/Phone information as described above.

Payments

The biggest difference between the Sale and the Sales Return versions of the Transaction Form is the Payments page.

When you first go to the payments page, the payments from the original Sale are displayed in the bottom grid. These payments cannot be edited. They are displayed only to assist you in determining the payments you wish to enter for the return.

Masterpiece automatically inserts a Credit payment for the amount due to the Client (once again, it's a negative number).

A Credit indicates that the customer will receive a store credit.  By default, they will receive a credit for the full amount.

The valid pay types for a return are the credit card types, Cash, Credit, and Cancel.

The same rules for Sales payments apply to Return payments : the total amount of Payments must equal the Return Total amount. Masterpiece will give you a warning when you attempt to save the Return without the correct total of Payments. Also, if you don't have enough payments, and you click on Add Payment, Masterpiece inserts a record for the balance with a Pay Type of Credit.

SPECIAL CASE - LAYAWAYS

If the customer has not fully paid for the piece being returned, then obviously, you will not want to issue a credit (or hand them cash) for the full amount of the sale.

If the customer has paid less than the full amount, you would only issue a credit (or cash, visa, etc.) for the actual amount paid.  You would then add a payment (in the top grid) and set the payment type to CANCEL to indicate that the reason the rest is not being returned on this return, is that the payments are going to be cancelled.

You can then APPLY CANCELLED PAYMENTS from the return transaction, to the original transaction.  This will change the outstanding layaway payments on the original transaction to "cancel."  If the payments on the original sale are not cancelled, they will continue to appear on the layaway/receivable report, and the customer will continue to receive statements.

If you have exited the return screen without applying cancelled payments, you should open the original transaction and change the layaway payments to cancel.

Saving a Return

Several things happen when you save a Return:

The original Lot is adjusted for quantity and location

A new Lot is created for the quantity being returned. The original Lot is unaffected.

Void Return

You can void (DELETE) a Return the same as with a Sale. See Voiding a Sale.

The net effect of voiding a return is to restore the Item quantities and locations to what they should be if the Return had never been created.

Approvals

An Approval associates Items with a Client without recording any payments made or due.  

To enter a new Approval, select File-New Approval from the menu. This opens up the Transaction form in Add mode, sets the Type to Approval, and changes the color of the read-only fields to blue.

On the Form you can change:

Item Entry

The main thing to do is to add Items via Add Title, as in a regular Sale. You can select via the Title or ScanCode, and select the Lot to pull from, as described in Look Up Title. Then enter the Quantity.

Client information entry is described in Enter Client.

The Payments page is unavailable for Approvals.

Saving an Approval

The actions that take place when saving an Approval are the same as those that take place for saving a Sale with a few exceptions:

An approval can be converted to a sale by using the Convert Approval entry in the file menu.  

If the client simply brings the piece back to you, use the New Return entry on the file menu to return the piece to inventory in the same way you would return a piece that was sold.